The association between air pollution and the incidence of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Northern Italy.

Acute exacerbations and worsening of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) have been associated with exposure to ozone (O), nitrogen dioxide (NO) and particulate matter, but chronic exposure to air pollution might also affect the incidence of IPF. We investigated the association between chronic exposure to NO, O and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <10 μm (PM) and IPF incidence in Northern Italy between 2005 and 2010.Daily predictions of PM concentrations were obtained from spatiotemporal models, and NO and O hourly concentrations from fixed monitoring stations.

Pharmacoepidemiological Data from Drug Dispensing Charities as a Measure of Health Patterns in a Population not Assisted by the Italian National Health Service.

We analysed drug dispensation by charitable organisations in a year time. Drugs were grouped according to the Anatomic Therapeutic Chemical classification and the amount dispensed was calculated with the system of the Daily Defined Dose (DDD) and expressed as DDD/1000 subjects/day. A number of 87,550 subjects were studied (13,308 Italians; 74,242 Immigrants).

Assessment of human papillomavirus in lung tumor tissue.

Background: Lung cancer kills more than 1 million people worldwide each year. Whereas several human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers have been identified, the role of HPV in lung carcinogenesis remains controversial.

Methods: We selected 450 lung cancer patients from an Italian population-based case-control study, the Environment and Genetics in Lung Cancer Etiology.

The use of S-phenylmercapturic acid as a biomarker in molecular epidemiology studies of benzene.

S-Phenylmercapturic acid (S-PMA), is a urinary metabolite of benzene, thought to be derived from the condensation product of benzene oxide with glutathione. S-PMA may be determined by GC, HPLC (UV or fluorescence detection), GC-MS, LC-MS/MS or immunoassays. The limit of sensitivities of most of these techniques is 1 microg/l urine or below.